Board: Nitro Banker
Size: 159
Camber Option: True Camber
Bindings: K2 Indy
Stance: 21.5 Wide 15 Negative 12 Goofy
Boots: K2 Thraxis Size 10
My Weight: 195lbs
Resort: Arapahoe Basin
Conditions: Spring temps, packed hero snow, a little wind, and a mix of blue skies with high cloud cover.
Flex: This board is stiff. It’s a fully directional flex with a slightly softer nose then stiffening up through the mid section to the tail. There’s not a lot of torsional flex, well realistically there’s just no torsional flex. This board comes in with a stiff freeride flex.
Stability: There are boards that are damp. There are boards that are lively. There are boards that are both damp yet lively. This is none of that. This board is just fucking smooth. Rarely do you feel any chatter and rarely do you feel it have any shockwaves from hitting firmer bigger stuff. It’s just a smooth stable ride.
Ollies/Pop: This board has the weirdest flex/snap point. It’s literally right before the end of the camber zone on the tail. When it is engaged this board rebounds aggressively. To answer the question of if it can pop, yes. But there are some limitations to it.
Butterability: I tried, I did a few, I gave up and went back to turning on this thing.
Carving: This board isn’t nimble edge to edge, it’s aggressive. It lets you know that it’s going to slam the edge into the snow and drive through anything in its path. Powerful is the only way to describe this board. There’s so much power when it pushes through anything in its path it just wants to keep leaving that trench even when you’re trying to stop. It takes more effort than you would think to do deep aggressive carves with this board, but that’s where the fun is in it. The rebound off that tail just pushes it so much further into the carve.
Rider in Mind: Someone that’s turning and burning.
Personal Thoughts: This board was something else. I haven’t ridden something this smooth in years. It’s not damp, it’s not lively, it’s just smooth. This is a high end hard charger that just keeps on pushing through anything in its path.
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12 Comments
Trying to finish off my 3 board quiver. I have a gnu headspace for park and ride Superpig for all mountain.could this compliment my 3rd board for powder, or should I be looking at something more like the jones mind expander?
210 Radd Air Tanker.
I Currently ride the Nitro Mountain 160 (weigh 165 lbs). Mostly groomers and some powder when possible. Now I went to buy the Banker when i found a nice price on it. However looking at the specs they seem pretty similar but seeing your review of the Mountain made me think that the Banker is a different kind of ride.
Is there a big difference in the boards.. the pricepoint is also confusing me.. since the mountain was a bit more expensive than the banker..
They do ride different.
How does the Banker ride and feel compared to Burton Custom X in the current generation?
Similar flex but the camber profiles are different so you have a difference in load and snap in and out of turns.
OK! Sounds like it will overlap to much to be worth it.
Thank’s for the reply.
Banker vs, Highlander. Which would you strap on for railing turns through hard pack and mowing over fat fuck skiers?
Banker for sure.
How would you compare the Banker to the Lib BRD? The gradual rockered nose and medium’ish flex of the BRD are appealing. But 15mm of taper without a progressive sidecut makes me think the tail will be washy on carves. The flex of the Banker sounds like a handful, but everything else checks the boxes.
I am looking for something that sits above my Assassin, but doesn’t overlap with my Back\Slash. Directional camber, taper, floaty nose, and freestyle tail. Intended purpose- carves, mobbing all conditions, some chunder busting,wheelies, and tomahawking. Also considering the GNU Gremlin or Ravine Select if I go volume shift.
Bankers going to be noticeably stiffer and more lively, the BRD will have a more damp ride to it. Have you put any thought to maybe a Nidecker Area or Tracer?
Just watched your vids on the Area and Tracer. Both are contenders, but I would probably lean towards the Area for switch capability and the more open sidecut. But I do like asym’s and how they change the rhythm of turning.
I really like my Back\Slash, but it has limitations. So I wanted to find similar characteristics with more effective edge, and a fuller tail. I was dead set on the Gremlin, but then started thinking even more EE and a mid-wide profile would be better. That lead to the BRD, then the Banker. The Telos Ranquet looks good on paper as well. Magnetraction can go either way in the Sierras. There are icy days where I wish I had it, but when it gets soft the mag seems to grab and pull.